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Objectives: Dose–escalation is a common practice to optimize treatment with subcutaneously administered biologicals in Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). However, limited data is available on the extent of dose-escalation in real-life. Here, we analyzed treatment persistence, dose–escalation, concomitant corticosteroid use, and costs of adalimumab, golimumab, and ustekinumab in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Methods: This was a nationwide, retrospective, non-interventional registry study. All adult patients who were diagnosed with CD or UC and had purchased adalimumab, golimumab, or ustekinumab from Finnish pharmacies between 2008 and 2018 were included in the study and followed up for 24 months after treatment initiation. Results: A total of 2884 patients were included in the analyses. For adalimumab, treatment persistence was higher for CD patients compared to UC patients both at months 12 (46.2% versus 37.1%; p

Josep Darbà,1 Gabriela Ramírez,2 Antoni Sicras,3 Pablo Francoli,4 Saku Torvinen,5 Rainel Sánchez-de la Rosa4 1Department of Economics, Universitat de Barcelona, 2BCN Health Economics and Outcomes Research SL, 3Dirección de Planificación, Badalona Serveis Assistencials, SA, Barcelona, 4Medical Department, TEVA Pharmaceutical, Madrid, Spain; 5Market Access Department, TEVA Pharmaceutical Europe BV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Objective: This study aims to identify factors associated with poor adherence to COPD treatment in patients receiving a fixed-dose combination (FDC) of inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting β2-agonist (ICS/LABA), focusing on the importance of inhaler devices.Methods: We conducted a retrospective and multicenter study based on a review of medical registries between 2007 and 2012 of COPD patients (n=1,263) treated with ICS/LABA FDC, whose medical devices were either dry powder inhalers (DPIs) or pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDI). Medication adherence included persistence outcomes through 18months and medication possession ratios. Data on exacerbations, comorbidities, demographic characteristics, and health care resource utilization were also included as confounders of adherence.Results: The analyses revealed that COPD patients whose medication wasdelivered through a DPI were less likely to have medication adherence compared to patients with pMDI, after adjusting for confounding factors, especially active ingredients. Younger groups of patients were less likely to be adherent compared to the oldest group. Smoker men were less likely to be adherent compared to women and non-smokers. Comorbidities decreased the probability of treatment adherence. Those patients that visited their doctor once a month were more likely to adhere to their medication regimen; however, suboptimal adherence was more likely to occur among those patients who visited more than three times per month their doctor. We also found that worsening of COPD is negatively associated with adherence.Conclusion: According to this study, inhaler devices influence patients’ adherence to long-term COPD medication. We also found that DPIs delivering ICS/LABA FDC had a negative impact on adherence. Patients’ clinic and socioeconomic characteristics were associated with adherence. Keywords: adherence, inhaler technique, medication possession ratio (MPR), dry powder inhalers (DPIs), pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs), persistence

Background: Prophylactic human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines represent a promising option for cervical cancer (CC) prevention in countries where screening, diagnostics and treatment have difficulties in producing significant reductions in CC incidence/mortality. Numerous studies have evaluated the cost-effectiveness of HPV vaccination strategies including female vaccination alone, female vaccination combined with different screening strategies, or female and male vaccination. Countries with the highest CC incidences, however, have the least resources to implement any CC prevention programs. To understand priorities in low vs. middle income countries with high CC incidence pertinent cost-efficacy studies on CC interventions were compared. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of cost-effectiveness studies including only countries with high CC incidence (>14.5) and GDP per capita below the high income group (